Wednesday, February 19, 2014

DIY flashcard holder

A DIY upcycled cereal box turned into a flashcard holder. 

To help JT to learn how to read, I have been using flashcards. And sometimes I like to test him to see how much he knows. I usually use my hand to cover the pic but since I have a cereal box lying around, I thought why not up cycle it.


 I turned it inside out so that JT won't e distracted with the wording and pictures on the box. 


Just fold it inside out and secure it with tape.  Then place your flashcard over and draw boxes that will show the wordings and cut according to the measurement/drawing. 


This is how he uses it.


Happy D-I-Y!

Friday, February 14, 2014

Patches

Read a story book about a girl born with vitiligo patches that looked like the world map with 7 continents with JD so that he knows what it is and he won't ask or say something that will hurt anyone that was born with vitiligo in the future. So I asked :

Me: so... If next time you see a person with vitiligo, what are you gonna say?

JD: you have nice patches 

Me:  kor kor... No! You don't say things like that.

JD: err... Your patches looks like the 7 continents? 

Me: *tahan laugh* kor kor! No no! If you see anyone with vitiligo you don't say things like that. In fact you don't say anything cos you know why they got it right?

JD: cos they got it when they're a baby? 

Me: aiyoh.. No they are born with it. So next time if you see anyone with it, you just act normal okay?

JD: ok. 
Nice patches? *lol* oh my jayden!

Using a story book to teach about Cebral palsy.

Sometimes when JD sees people with crutches or wheelchair, he'd ask "what happened to them? Is their leg broken?" Since he is a "visual person", sometimes I have to search for social story or pictures from google to explain it to him slowly, so that he won't say the wrong thing and hurt people's feeling.

When I saw the book "My Friend Suhana: A Story of Friendship and Cerebral Palsy" and the brief introduction about how a girl helps her friend who suffers from Cebral Palsy I thought this might be a great book to teach him about it and also what he can do to help. And I was right! The book is good as the illustration were so nice and the colours just make you want to read more. The illustrations made it easier to explain in detail about Cebral Palsy and the difficulties that they face.

What I really like the most is how the author encourages children to be nice to people and also suggest ways for the readers to help and cheer people up. 


It was really a book that gives you a warm feeling after you read it. :) 

About Vitiligo

Since JD is an Asperger, he might have problems controlling himself from saying the wrong thing when he meet with people who looks differently from him or has disability. So on and off I will have to slowly introduce to him different kinds of problems that people have, teach him about it and also what to say or what to avoid saying in order not to hurt people's feeling.

So when I saw the book "Snow White's Seven Patches - A Vitiligo Fairy Tale", I thought it would be a suitable book to use as an example to introduce Vitiligo since he has a friend in robotics class who has it.

JT and JD reading and looking at the baby with Vitiligo skin. 

When they first read and saw the baby's picture, they were surprised and asked why one can have Vitiligo. I was hoping that the book will at least give a brief info about it, but there were none so I had to think of my very own explanation about it.

And then came the 7 continents world map. It was their first time seeing the world map and first time knowing there were 7 continents too.

There was a moment when they were  sad when they know that the mother only fed Snow an apple after she writes a book. They must be wondering how do you only eat an apple a day and not be hungry *lol* and they got so worried when she ate the apple and went to sleep. However, they were pleased with the ending and they asked me why the mother looked so miserable.

So after reading the book, I tested JD "so...what do you say to someone that has Vitiligo?" And he replied "you have nice patches!"

*lol*Oh my... I hope the author will consider writing a story book about Asperger's so that more people are aware that they mean no harm and they are just born to be direct and honest. :) 

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Corn and Water chestnut soup

Ah... The weather is going crazy hot these days. Typical CNY weather but this year was the worst. I heard draught is happening too. So I think I better take precaution just in case my kids get overheated internally and I end up nursing sick kiddos later. So I stood at the wet market and googled "Chinese soup for Hot days and "corn and water chestnut" appeared so I went and bought all the ingredient. And then when I got back, I tried to look for the same page, I can't track it back.

What to do? Simply whack la. After all its just boiling soup right?

And this was my soup for today.


And then I tried googling again and I found the recipe here.

Boil it for about an hour and you have a cooling drink for the family.

Here are some benefits about water Chestnut. Preg ladies, do take precaution about consuming water chestnut ya.